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EveryCow

Milk drinks

Fura da nono

Spiced millet balls crushed into nono, the fermented milk sold by Fulani women across the Sahel.

Fura da nono pairs fura, balls of cooked millet dough spiced with ginger and pepper, with nono, a cow milk fermented and sold by Fulani women. The fura is crushed into the nono and sweetened to taste, making a thick, sour drink. It is a popular food in northern Nigeria and Niger, eaten at midday and sold from calabashes in markets.

What goes in

Nono (fermented cow milk): 57%57%Millet flour: 29%29%Ginger and pepper: 7%Sugar: 7%4parts
  • Nono (fermented cow milk)857%, Soured overnight in a calabash.
  • Millet flour429%, Cooked and pounded into fura.
  • Ginger and pepper17%, Spice the fura.
  • Sugar17%, Added to taste.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Ferment Milk the cows and leave the milk to sour overnight in a calabash.
  2. Step 2: Boil Mix millet flour with spices, shape into balls and boil them.
  3. Step 3: Shape Pound the cooked balls and reshape them into fura.
  4. Step 4: Serve Crush the fura into the nono with sugar and serve.
  5. Nono (fermented cow milk): 57%57%Millet flour: 29%29%Ginger and pepper: 7%Sugar: 7%
    Finished Fura da nono, by share.

Fulani milk

The Fulani are herders who move with their cattle across the Sahel and the savanna. Fulani women milk the cows and sell nono and butter in nearby towns, a trade that brings the household income and links herders and farmers. The nono is fermented overnight in calabashes, and the calabash, balanced on the head, is a familiar sight in northern markets.

Fura

Fura is made by the Hausa and Zarma as well as the Fulani. Millet flour is mixed with spices, shaped into balls, boiled, then pounded and shaped again. The balls are dusted with flour and keep for a day or two. Mashed into nono with sugar and sometimes ice, they make a filling drink for the hot season.

Where it is used

Midday mealMarket drinkHot-season refreshment

The breeds behind it

Red BororoLong-horned zebu of the Wodaabe and other Fulani herders.KuriLake Chad breed of the far north-east.

Also part of it, and being written: White Fulani (The zebu of the Fulani herds.).

More on EveryCow

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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